


The Price Paid

by Froggy1988



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Dark, Emotional Manipulation, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Heavy Angst, Illness, Rape/Non-con Elements, hangings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-27 02:54:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30116082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Froggy1988/pseuds/Froggy1988
Summary: When Cassandra's father becomes ill the only person who can cure him is the dangerous alchemist Varian.An AU, where after Varian never knows the link between the black rocks and Rapunzel so never frees his father.Read Tags and Warnings please.Darkfic
Relationships: Cassandra/Varian (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a dark fic, and I would ask people to be cautious when reading if they have the possibility of being triggered. It is a story largely about sexual violence and coercion, its not really supposed to be a relaxed read. - Also, for triggers there's a hanging written in some detail.
> 
> Also - I might get flack for my 'dark Varian, but it’s how I could see his character developing if he was simply left to manage on his own without his father and filled with anger. Its an AU so he's not 'cannon's Varian but a way that I can see him going. He is however a bit more complicated than this first chapter shows. 
> 
> I like writing dark fics, not because I in anyway agree or support the actions displayed but because I am aware of their existence and I like to explore all aspects of life in my writing even the very uncomfortable ones. I try to write with as much honesty as I can - I try not to glorify the violence - I might not one hundred percent get it right but that’s because I’m still learning. 
> 
> Simply put if you don't like it, simply don't read it.

**Chapter one: The agreement.**

A shake of the head was all it took for Cassandra’s world to crumble. A shake of the head was all that it took for the wheels to begin turning that would lead to her fall from virtue. She stared at the Doctor, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. Trying to convince herself that there was another meaning to a shake of the head.

The Doctor placed his hand on her back and led her away from her father. She didn’t know why, she doubted her father had any awareness of what was going on. The fever had taken him quicky, the morning before he had felt slightly dizzy and complained of a headache, but he’d drunk a couple more cups of coffee before going to work. A few hours later Eugene had rushed into the garden where she had been pegging out some of Rapunzel’s nightclothes. He’d stopped her, laying his hand gently on her shoulder.

“Cassandra.” He’d said seriously. “It’s your father, he’s been taken ill.” 

Something in his tone, the sympathy in his eyes, the way that he wasn’t even trying to tease her, filled her with dread and sent her bolting through the castle to her fathers’ rooms. He’d been conscious when she’d first arrived, and Eugene had helped her by making sure bone broth and tea were brought to the room. The doctor had been sent for.

Her father had grabbed her hand and looked up at her, his face red and sweating.

“I’m so proud you’re my daughter. I never say it enough.”  
  


“It’s okay Dad, the Doctor is on his way. You’re going to be fine. You just need to rest.” Cassandra said, but as her hand rested on his forehead she felt the singeing heat coming from him, saw how under the blush of the fever his skin had an ashen tone.

“Do your duty, keep your head down, and you’ll be okay Cassandra.”  


She stared at him, she suddenly felt so helpless, she didn’t know what she was supposed to do, how she could make him better. There must be a way. She jumped as there was a light touch to her shoulder and she looked up to see Eugene holding a bowl out to her.

“Here Dad, have some broth.”  


Cassandra shook her head, less than twenty four hours had passed since her father had awoken with a headache, and now she was here, again with the doctor, hoping he would have more information more suggestions than the day before.

“What is it?”

“Perhaps Typhoid fever. “ The doctor said, not looking up as he packed away his instruments. “There hasn’t been any other outbreaks in the city, but there has been a few cases in some of the farmsteads between here and Warden.”

“He was out investigating a string of robberies on the road to Warden last week.”

“He might have passed through an unhealthy miasma, there must be one passing through that area.”

“So, what’s the treatment?”

“Keep him drinking.”

“And?”

“People can survive it, but Cassandra, your father, this fever, the delirium, the passing in and out of consciousness – they’re all bad signs. “  
  


“What are you saying?”  
  


“I am saying that you should keep him drinking, but start making preparations, it is important in these cases to bury the body quickly to keep the bad air from escaping the body.”

  
“What about medication?”

  
“We could bleed him to help get rid of the fever.”

  
She looked at her father, she knew he was not aware of the conversation, not aware of anything, but he was not asleep, his body shake and twitched restlessly, and he gave the occasional pained groan or let out words that she wished she could understand. She shook her head; it didn’t seem right to put him through anymore than he was already going through.

“Please, is there anything else we can try?”  
  


The Doctor shook his head, and without another word left.

Cassandra turned to look over her shoulder, her father groaned. She’d been up all-night thinking, and she knew that there was one thing that she could do, but it was dangerous. The boy, the alchemist, ever since the great storm she had been keeping an eye on him, she’d heard that he had been making medicines. Varian was full of hatred to Rapunzel, he’d come to her for help, on the night of the storm, the night when his father Quirin had disappeared. He hadn’t been to the city since, but she’d heard reports that his anger was growing as those strange black rocks had slowly destroyed Old Corona and the villagers had to be moved to another site. Still, he was the only option she had left.

She’d needed help to get Fidella hooked up to the old cart, and her father moved onto the makeshift bed she had added to it. Eugene had seemed like the right choice, they might not have been best friends but he knew how to be sneaky and wouldn’t try to reason with her like Rapunzel would.

As Eugene had made the last checks to the straps connecting the wagon to Fidella, he had turned to her and pursed his lips.

“Cass, I’m not sure if he can take this.”  


“I’ll go slow.”  
  


He nodded.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? Cass, he’s dangerous – he’s been waiting for revenge, we’ve all been waiting years to see what he will do. I think if you walk right on up to him then you’re just making yourself the target.”

“And if two of us go then he’ll definitely say no to helping me. His anger is with Rapunzel, and you’re her husband, I’m just the servant, maybe it won’t be so strong towards me.”

Eugene had nodded slowly. He reached up and squeezed her shoulder.

“Take care Cass.” He turned to look at the ashen mane who was lying unawares in the cart. “Come back to us Cap.” He said.

Cassandra had tried not to glance back as she clicked her heels and got Fidella to start trotting out of the courtyard, but she had, and she’d seen her friend stood solemnly watching her, she felt a shiver down her back but turned back to the road ahead of her, it was going to be a long journey given how slow she had to take it to avoid shaking her father. It was best to just stay concentrating on the road ahead, and not the people she was leaving behind.

She hadn’t been to Varian’s home in many years, he was the only citizen of Old Corona who had refused to be moved from his home. As she rode closer the pathway became surrounded by black spikes, making a wall to one side of her. She felt a sense of dread, then she turned a corner, and she could see through the light of the full moon the ruined tower, the tiny cottage in front of the large hall, what made her gasp was the large spike of black rock that was rising up through the roof of the hall. All around the building was a forest of spikes, dark and foreboding as they rose into the night.

There was still a light in the window despite it being a few hours after midnight. As she rode closer, she saw the door creak open, a tall slim feature watching her from the doorway. He was still for a few minutes before he moved and walked along the path hands in pockets.

“Who goes there?”

Cassandra paused; she didn’t know how to answer. It would be easy to say her name, he would recognise it, but would he just turn back and shut the door on her?

“Are you lost? There’s nobody for miles except me you know.”

His voice had deepened in the years that had passed. Cassandra gulped, he was coming towards her and with the lantern resting beside her it would not be long before he was close enough to make out who she was.

“It’s Cassandra, from the castle.” She said it quietly, but the night was so quiet that it sounded like it was a shout.

The figure on the path froze. There was a silence, but it was broken by the loud groan from her father behind her.

“Who is with you?”

“My father.”

“Are you here to arrest me?”

“No, my father is ill… wait arrest you, what did you do?”

  
“This last week? Not too much.”

There was silence again, but it wasn’t long before Fidella pulled up close to the young man. Cassandra looked at him, he was taller than her now, his face perhaps a little less angular, his eyes perhaps a little more tired looking. His hair held in a leather thong had grown down his back, its distinctive blue stripe hanging down over those intense blue eyes. He was dressed in a scruffy patched shirt and a leather jerkin not dissimilar to those she could remember him wearing in the past, but now they fitted him better. As she took him in, she could tell that he was doing the same to her.

“Why are you here Cass?” He asked finally.

“My father’s ill.”

“But why are you here?” He emphasised.

“I heard you made medicines now.”  


He folded his arms and leaned back, frowning at her.

“So,” he said eventually, “he’s dying, your doctors can’t do anything, and as a last resort you were forced to come to me.”  
  


“That’s a pretty good summation yes.”  


He gave a little hum and she watched as he walked towards the back of the cart. Looking over her shoulder Cass could see him leaning in close to her father, saw his hands swipe over his forehead, tilt his chin, rest a moment on his chest. The examination was over in a few seconds.

“What did the Doc say he has?”

“Typhoid fever.”

“Hmm.. for once I’d say he was right. How long?”  
  


“He got sick yesterday.”  
  


“He didn’t get sick yesterday, yesterday was when he got sick to the point he could not hide it anymore. People do not get this sick in one day.”

“Okay then, he got sicker yesterday, he might have caught the illness eight days ago. He went to a village that has had a few cases.”

Varian gave a short nod.

Cassandra climbed down from the cart, taking the lantern with her, she approached the young man.

“Varian, please, do you have medicine for this?”

“No.”

Cassandra felt a sink hole opening in her chest, dragging all hope into it in a painful swirl.

“But I have the materials I need to synthesis it.”

“You do?”

He nodded. He turned to look at her, his gaze swept down he body for a moment, and he put his hand to his chin as if he were thinking. Then he gave a light hum.

“Why should I help you?”

She’d been expecting the question, but it still stung to hear it when she knew the chance of helping her father was so close.

“You were there.” He said. “When I asked Rapunzel for help.”  
  


“I would have helped you if I could Varian, it’s just, the whole city needed help.”  
  


He grunted and turned away from her.

“Please, you can help him, so help him.” Cassandra reached out and caught the sleeve of his shirt.

He turned and glanced her up and down once again.

“Let’s…” He hesitated for a moment, his eyes not looking at her. “Let’s talk payment.”

“Cassandra had been expecting this. Both her father and she lived in the castle, they received a fair payment, with little outgoings, they had been saving up, her father was going to get a cottage for his retirement, she was going to have a little money to travel one day and find a new place for herself. She was sure it would be enough. She reached into the cart beside her father and drew out the hefty bag of gold coins. She untied the drawstrings opening it just enough to show him that it was all proper gold.

His expression didn’t change in the slightest, he just looked at the gold with boredom.

“It’s enough for a house.” She pointed out exasperated.

“I don't need that.” He said dismissively.

“You don't need money?”

“I have lots of money.” 

She glanced at his shabby clothing, his unkempt hair and then behind him at the partly destroyed building, even from this distance, even in this darkness, she could see that the cottage was near dilapidation.

“Then what do you want?” She asked.

Something about the smirk he gave her made her feel uncomfortable. He slowly walked around her, this time not even hiding the way he was looking her up and down, surveying her.

“Tell me? Being a lady’s maid, you actually have to be a maid, yes?”

“Unmarried.” Cassandra confirmed.

“Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you're a maid. “He leaned in now, his face close to hers. “You and Rapunzel share everything, do you share Fitzherberts’ dick too?”

Cassandra didn’t think, she just acted, her hand shot out and there was a sharp sudden snap as she slapped him round the face. The next moment she was gasping in pain as he had grabbed her wrist and pulled her up close to him.

“You’d think that you would treat the only person who can cure your father a bit better. Don’t you understand Cassie – I’m the one with the power here. You need to think about how much your father is worth to you. I know what mine was worth to me.”

“State your payment.” She growled.

“I did.”

“No, all you did was insult me.”  
  


“If you’re a maid, then I’ll take that as payment.” He said it so perfectly calmly, as if it were some ordinary thing.

She gasped as she realized what he meant, she pulled her wrist out of his grasp and stumbled back against the cart. She stared at the smug smile on the man’s face, how had the boy she’d known become this?

As she stared at him she felt something strange, the wood behind her back seemed to be moving, confused she looked back at her father in the cart just as he made a strained gurgling noise, his back arched off of the cart and he started to jerk in convulsions, his booted feet kicking and pushing at the wooden planks. Cassandra stared helplessly as Fidella snorted nervously and started to back up.

“Whoo, woo, calm girl.” Varian’s spry form had immediately jumped into action, and he had steadied the panicked horse, Cassandra could do nothing but stare as he sprang into the cart kneeling beside her father.

“Well, are you going to help me or what?” He shouted at Cassandra. It was enough to knock her out of her stunned state, she hitched up her skirts and climbed into the shaking cart.

“Hold him steady.” Varian instructed, he was searching through the pockets of his leather apron, holding up tiny little vials and squinting at them.

“There you are.” He muttered to himself.

Cassandra put her hands on her father shoulders, holding him down as Varian unstopped the vial, and pressed it to her father lips, his strong hands working to open his locked jaw. Eventually, after what seemed to Cassandra like hours, he managed, and the contents of the vial were swiftly poured into her father mouth.

She watched her father intently, as his movements seemed to slow, and he came to rest in the first still sleep she had seen him in for the two days. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and looked up at Varian. He glanced over at her, then reaching back into his jerkin he held a little vial out to her. She took it from him.

“It’ll help the fever.”

“Thank you.”

“You know my terms.” He said standing up and jumping down from the cart. “You can think about them for as long as you like, but…” He glanced back over his shoulder, “he’s not going to last long without my formulas.”

“You’re sure you can help him?”

Varian gave a short nod.

Cassandra looked down at the ashen face of the man who’d raised her, the only family that she had known. She owed him so much, still needed him so much. She was not ready to lose him, not ready to be on her own.

“Have you made a decision?”

“Yes, anything.”


	2. The Agreement Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previous warnings apply – as I’ve said before it’s got nonconsensual sex and sex acts in the story, it’s dark – if you don’t like it, don’t read it.
> 
> Sorry, I forgot to add the underage warning- yep - sorry - its on now- there are mentions of underage sex, and scenes after the fact in future chapters

Cassandra watched as Varian laid her father on the cot bed. He was still sleeping soundly. She looked around, her arms wrapped firmly around her body, trying not to think about what she had just agreed to. The house, though from outside looked dilapidated, was strangely clean and organized inside. Varian’s lab was a lot smaller than Cassandra had remembered and as she looked around the room she realized that the far wall was definitely new, the bright bricks stood out against the rest of the aged walls.

The cot bed that Varian had laid her father upon was obviously not his own bed, and Cassandra had taken a judgmental look across it as Varian was carrying him in, but she’d found it to be spotlessly clean.

“Pillows and blankets are in that wardrobe.” Varian said nodding at Cassandra. She went over, and opening it found a stack of clean warm looking blankets, and a few pillows, as well as also shelving with a lot of different sized and shaped glasses. She ignored the glasses and went back to her father’s side, gently shuffling a pillow under his head as Varian raised it.

Varian left their side without a word, and Casandra spent the next hour or so watching Varian as he walked around the room, picking out small bottles and dried herbs that hung from a rack on the ceiling. Most of his activity seemed to focus on a large scorch marked table, that he was setting up with all kinds of glasses balanced on tripods over flames, swirling thin tubes, and brass siphons. There was a blackboard to the side of the room, with all kinds of marks on it, sketches of the black rocks and some flowers taped to the side of it, and there was a tall shelf full of heavy leather-bound books. The only other furniture was the big armchair she had found herself seated on next to her father.

She jumped at a sudden pain in her arm, she hadn’t even realized that she’d drifted off, but looking around the room she knew it must have only been for a few minutes. Varian was stood over at her, his face marked by a serious frown that she was starting to recognize as his main expression. She looked down at the spot where she felt the pain and saw that Varian was pulling a needle from her arm, her sleeve pushed up almost to her shoulder.

“What did you do to me?” She said staring at the empty needle.

“Relax. It’s to stop you getting the disease.”

Cassandra sat up straighter putting her hand to the small bleeding spot. She was aware of the fact that he could have given her anything, done anything to her. Yet, despite knowing this she believed him. It was a strange confusing mixture of feelings.

“Come into the cottage, it’s time to work out the details of our agreement.”

Cassandra felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, but she nodded. As she got up, she looked at her father one more time, he didn’t seem to be at any risk of awakening anytime soon. She followed Varian through a door out into the living space of the cottage. The room they entered, with kitchen equipment on one side and another large table on the other was like the laboratory, spotlessly clean, but sparse and lacking any signs of adornment or personal touches. She glanced up at the roof and saw that all the holes that she had seen from the outside had actually been patched on the inside, in fact, as she stared up at it puzzled, she started to realize that what she was looking at was a brand-new roof, built under the real one outside. She glanced curiously at Varian. He was placing two glasses filled with a light beer on the table, along with a container of butter and a big wedge of crusty loaf.

He looked up, seeming a little startled to find her studying him intensely.

“Sit.” He said shortly.

“Your house.” She said.

He raised his eyebrow at her.

“What about it?”  
  


“It looks damaged from outside, but you’ve made fixes on the inside.”  
  


“Yes.”  
  


“So why not just make the repairs on the outside? I mean, this fake roof you’ve put in lowers the height, give you less space.”  
  


“I’m not overly tall.” He pointed out.

“I just don’t understand.”  
  


He sighed.

“If you must know, I like the house looking like a ruin from the outside. It means that strangers bypass it, and those that do see me outside see this…” He gestured downwards at his worn clothing.

Cassandra stared at him not sure how to answer.

“It’s safer looking like I don’t have two cents to rub together.”

“I guess it is.” Cassandra conceded sitting in the chair across from him. It was clear to her, that first appearances were deceiving when it came to the young alchemist turned chemist, she would have to keep her wits about her and try not to rely on her assumptions. He handed her a slice of the bread smothered in butter. Cassandra took a large hungry bite, realizing that she hadn’t eaten all day.

“The medicine dousn’t keep.” Varian explained. “I’ll have to synthesis it every day, it’s a timely process. Your father will have to stay here. You will care for him, and probably run the errands that I can’t do because I’m working. The course of medicine will last between a week and ten days depending on how he responds. At that point he should be well enough to return home, though I should inform you it will probably be months before he is well enough to continue any real work.”

Cassandra nodded taking in the information carefully.

“During the time when you are here, your body is mine to use as I wish.” Varian added.

“No.”

He stared at her, expressionless as he took a deep drink of his beer.

“Are you really going to make me carry him back outside?” He asked finally.  


“Once.” She said sharply, she could feel her chest growing tight at the thought of it, she would not spend an undefined period of time being condemned to she couldn’t imagine what by this hermit.

“You have a high opinion of your own worth.”

  
“You used to like me, so I think I’ve got a bargaining chip here after all.” She didn’t know where the words had come from, perhaps deep inside she’d always known this, always intended to use it to get him to help her father. The effect on him was instantaneous, his mouth fell open and his eyes widened as he looked at her, but it was also short lived and his face returned to its usual serious frown, this time perhaps with more tightness around the jaw.

  
“Last deal,” he said gruffly, “and if you turn it down you can carry the old man out of here yourself. Sex, three times of my choosing whilst you’re living here.”

Cassandra stared at him, his stillness, his intensity, she knew he was not joking, she knew that he would happily let her take her father back out to die. What choice did she have? At least now she knew what to expect, she wouldn’t be forever waiting for him to just grab her at will, as he had suggested. Three times, she would lie with him three times, and then she would leave with her father in good health, and she’d try and get back on with living.

“Done.”

His lips quirked in a slight smirk.

“But.” She said, feeling a little smug when the smirk disappeared. “My father never knows, and you don’t touch me until I see some improvement in my father’s health.”

“Define improvement?”

“Once I see your medicine is working, once I know that you can cure him.”  


He gave a little hum.

“I’m already using expensive materials to treat your father, what happens if you decide you’re going to take him back to the castle and to that useless doctor?”

“Then I will pay you with gold coin for the work you’ve done. How most people pay for services.”

Varian’s eyes seemed to light up slightly, and he leaned across the table, his face within inches of her. Her body twitched wanting to move away from him, but she held her ground.

“It'll take a few days before he starts to show any real signs of getting better. You’re going to have to give me a sign that you're willing to make payment. You’re going to have to give me a small pre-payment, a taste, if you get my drift.”

Cassandra felt the bile raise in her throat, she could simply deny having any idea to what he was referring too, play the complete innocent, but in the end that wouldn’t change the outcome, he was right, he was the one with the power here.

It had been when she was barely sixteen, a trainee maid at the castle, promised to be the handmaiden of a Princess that nobody had actually expected to turn up. She had been taking in the laundry late one night, the weather was turning, so she had rushed outside to ensure the rain didn’t mean she would have to wash them all over again. She had seen something in an alleyway directly across from her. She’d had a clear view, the other maid on her knees in front of an off duty guard. She was close enough to see everything that they were doing, they were just on the edge of her lamplight. She’d known that she should have turned and got on with her work, ignored them, but instead she had watched, staring curiously every time that the couple’s shifting angle had allowed for her to catch a glimpse of his manhood. She had watched as the girl had moved her head back and forth, she’d never heard of the act before, but somewhere deep inside of her she had understood exactly what she was seeing.

“I’m waiting. “Varian said.

Cassandra nodded.

When he moved to the middle of the room and started working on his belt, she understood that he meant immediately. Trying to hold herself tall and straight, trying to seem dignified, she went and knelt before him.

The material of his trousers peeled away from him, and his manhood sprung forwards, the powerful seeming muscle wrapped in smooth dry skin. She had little knowledge of what a man should look like in this state, but to her he seemed long, thankfully not overly thick, though this thought did not seem to quell her anxiety. Her throat went dry, and she swallowed, it was as if it were closing up, as if her body had just decided it didn’t want to breath anymore, and she felt a jolted tightening of her lower muscles.

She tried not to think about how she had agreed to have this inside of her, how sometimes within the next week she was going to be handing over control of her body to this man. She couldn’t think about that now, the only way that she would get through this was to concentrate on one moment at a time. Her father needed her, and she would get through this if she could just not think too far ahead and not think too far behind, seven to ten days, she was strong enough to survive seven to ten days of this.

“Well?” He said impatiently from above her. She chose not to look up at him, not to look into his eyes, not to confuse this man with somebody that she knew or had known.

Tentatively, she opened her mouth, and dipped forwards, her lips touching surprisingly soft skin. She parted them wider and slipped over the bulb like head of his manhood. She tried to hold back a gag as her senses became overwhelmed with it all, the taste of him, saltiness under soap, the smell of mustiness under more soap that permeated from the thick black hair cut close to his skin.

“Steady.” He said.

She pulled off almost straight away, and was embarrassed to start to feel her eyes tingle and water. Knowing he was watching her she took a deep breath and put her lips back onto him. She recalled the memory of the maid and the guard and she pushed her head a little further onto him a drew it back, and as she repeated the gesture she tried to withdraw into her own mind, to close off her senses, to not feel or smell or taste any of this.

Her dress was too thin to stop the coldness from the flagstones from travelling into the skin of her knees. His hips thrust a little, hitting the back of his throat making her gag again, and now her eyes were watering so much that she couldn’t see anything except a blur of flesh and hair. His long fingers came to rest on the back of her head, drawing her back out of herself as she winced, waiting for him to force her further onto him, but he didn’t, he just held her lightly. Her distraction must have made her do something, tremble slightly of move her jaw because he gave a hitched breath.

“Careful.” He said.

She blinked the tears out of her eyes, let them fall down her face although she hated it, she hated the idea that she was crying over this more than anything. She told herself it wasn’t real crying, it was just a response to the gagging, to the way her throat had clenched and rippled, and the acid in her stomach had sloshed. Seeing clearly, she risked a glance up at him as her head swept back almost pulling off his length. He looked down at her something intense and hungry in his eyes, but his face relaxed, his mouth slightly open. He closed his eyes for one more moment and took a deep breath.

“Enough.” He said suddenly.

Cassandra was confused but she pulled away, thankful that she could move away from him, away from the taste of him, the smell of him.

He turned from her, and for a moment she just stared after him, wasn’t a man supposed to spill his seed to end this kind of interaction? She might have been pretty naive about these things but she was positive that that hadn’t happened.

He had gone into the kitchen and was pouring himself a glass of water.

“You should make your father drink if you can. You’ll sort yourself and him, I’m not going to wait on you.”

He turned to her where she remained kneeling on the floor.

“What?” He asked with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

Cassandra hesitated, it was over now, there was no point in questioning it.

Varian gave a dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes.

“You weren’t very good, though I guess my questioning of if you’re actually a maid has definitely been answered, you have no idea of what to do with a dick.”

Something in her mind suddenly clicked, and she understood.

“You didn’t really want that did you? You just wanted to prove you had the power to make me do it?”  
“Do you still think that I’m just that wimp of a teenage boy who had a crush on you? Do you really think any of that remains?”

She didn’t answer.

“You can’t use that against me, if that’s what you were thinking.” He said pointedly as he turned to go.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“To make your father’s medicine.”

Varian disappeared back into his lab.

Cassandra knew that she had to move, and yet for some reason she felt like she couldn’t get up. Finally, once the coldness of the floor had crept up into her bones, she lifted herself onto unsteady feet and crossed the room to where the pitcher of water was on the counter. As she watched the water pouring from pitcher to glass she thought it seemed as if time was going too slow, the way the clear water moved and caught the dim light didn’t seem real, it was like she was dreaming. She was surprised when the water had reached the top of the glass and started to spill over. She put the pitcher down and lifted the glass, feeling the water slosh out of the sides and over her hands, perplexed she looked down and saw her hand trembling.

Somewhere inside of her she knew she ought to feel upset, angry, but she just felt nothing.


End file.
